Dogs charity is first to benefit from CERS help

Members of staff from Lancashire Care Foundation Trust with representatives from Dogs for the Disabled

Published:16:18Thursday 06 August 2015

Share this article

A service at Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust has found an innovative use for old equipment that will support Dogs for the Disabled.

The Community Equipment Resource Service (CERS), based in Leyland, provides loan equipment to patients in the Chorley, South Ribble, Preston and West Lancashire areas.

The equipment, such as beds, pressure relieving mattresses, hoists and nebulisers is provided to enable patients to recover in their homes following discharge from hospital or to help avoid admittance to hospital altogether.

The service collects equipment from service users’ families when it is no longer required.

A scheme was initiated for drivers to collect both the larger items as well as much smaller pieces of equipment such as walking frames which are then sold as scrap metal.

The team wanted to do something that would benefit the community, so a charitable account was set up to save this money, and they recently issued a cheque for £2,000 to their chosen charity, Dogs for the Disabled.

The charity works to provide solutions to help people with a wide variety of different disabilities and conditions; from assistance dogs helping children and adults with physical disabilities and families with a child with autism, to pet dog autism workshops, and innovative new projects working in schools and residential care settings.

Viv Shaw, CERS service manager at Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We realised that we had some small items of equipment that required disposing of and wanted a way to utilise this in a more productive way.

“The team wanted to do something positive for a charity and so we decided that anything that could be sold for scrap was a great way to generate income.

“This money will go towards the sponsorship of a dog and will provide assistance with their training and upkeep.

“The dogs provide an invaluable source of assistance and companionship for families and we are so pleased to be able to help this wonderful charity.”

For more information about Dogs for the Disabled, visit www.dogsforthedisabled.org.

To find out more about the CERS team, go to www.lancashirecare.nhs.uk/CERS.